Commerce

There is a confusion in modern U.S. society over what constitutes 'good works' in the sense of individual generosity stemming from personal values. Those engaged in working for non-profits and receiving a salary may be doing good in the world, but a job is still a form of commerce. I myself worked as a professional nurse in difficult settings. I always considered this work a form of commerce, an exchange of labor for money/benefits. Firemen, for instance, are often lionized as heroes. However, firemen are very well compensated public employees. Their work, though risky and often demanding self-endangerment, is a form of commerce. 

Some forms of commerce are better for society than others. Those who work on Wall Street, for example, are agents of greed and materialism. Their commerce cannot be remotely confused with humanist generosity. 

Philanthropy promotes progressive work, however it too is a form of commerce. It is an exchange of money for inclusion in the good work of those who actually perform it. Since those who perform the works of philanthropy-sponsored non-profits are also salaried employees, the philanthropist is two degrees removed from actually touching human need. There are often financial incentives behind philanthropy. This diminishes its worth as generosity and increases its value as commerce. 

The confusion between commerce and doing good is growing as the U.S. becomes more immersed in materialism. The lines between commerce and human generosity are blurred by convenience. Generosity requires time and energy which does not reap financial gain or gain of social status. This form of giving is personal. It requires being there, extending a hand and addressing need directly. Raising money for a non-profit, doing piece work for an foreign-focused NGO and walking in a cause-athon are worthwhile activities for participants, however they do not directly touch the greater human need in their own families and neighborhoods. These activities are wrapped up in commerce and are remote forms of doing good at best. At their worst, they are businesses that reap privileged lives for those who devise them.

Part of being a practicing humanist is divorcing human values from money. While commerce may be necessary at times to address large-scale human problems, developed by the general lack of humanist values in the world, I think it is necessary for the humanist to keep the line between commerce and humanism sharply defined. As long as commerce trumps humanist values, human greed will undermine those values and sabotage true social and political progress within the human condition.